Ambitious Bloomfield is up for the challenge of becoming a Championship manager with Luton
Hatters boss discusses his career so far
Luton chief Matt Bloomfield admitted he is more than up for the challenge of taking on his first Championship managerial role after agreeing to leave Wycombe Wanderers and move into the hot-seat at Kenilworth Road last week.
The 40-year-old was clearly Town’s number one target after they had decided to part company with former boss Rob Edwards by mutual consent, his appointment announced to the media just a few days after the vacancy became available. Although the new man has only been a manager himself for a shade over two years, having spent five months at Colchester United prior to heading back to his old stomping ground, he felt that following Chairboys legend Gareth Ainsworth, a manager he played under for a large portion of his Chairboys career, showed he has the desire to take a gamble in his ambition to succeed.
Bloomfield said: “(It was) A big pair of cowboy boots (to fill). I don’t want to die wondering, if there’s an opportunity I want to grab it. I’d rather risk failing than not give it a go and I think that epitomised the decision to go to Colchester and back to Wycombe. I always told Gaz I’d never follow him as I knew how big a task it was going to be, but when you’re presented with an opportunity, the feeling of challenge or risk soon evaporates and you look at it as a challenging opportunity.
"So I see every opportunity in front of me as a chance to succeed and this is another one of those opportunities. Every time something’s presented to you that you believe in, it’s hard to turn it down, I believe in this and that’s why I’m sat here now. I love a challenge, I love to try and improve, try and move forward. Evolution and development is massive for me and try to punch above your weight. This is a proud football club, so let’s not get it wrong, this is a very proud football club who deserve to be at the very top of any football pyramid and that shouldn’t be lost because of where we are right now.
"The Luton badge stands for something, the Luton supporters stand for a really proud heritage. I knew quite a bit and did some more reading and research into that as I wanted to make sure I immersed myself in the job. The last thing I want to do is just be a custodian, I want to be more than that. I want to be a custodian, but I want to really embrace the football club I work for, so I know all about it and I’m really excited to be here.
The fact that Luton have been in the top flight as recently as last season was also one of the main factors behind Bloomfield’s decision to leave a club he had an affinity with, and was masterminding a League One promotion charge at, as he continued: “They’ve been in the Premier League so recently, so there’s a real good feeling around Luton as a football club when you’re looking from the outside.
"It’s a club that has progressed through the levels very, very quickly and that doesn't happen by chance, that happens through extremely good leadership, a very good vision and a lot of hard work and dedication to the cause. So a lot of those things combined and meeting the people and the feeling I got off the back of it, you put it all in a melting pot and it was just a natural progression to make the step to come here.”
Although Bloomfield has taken over a club that find themselves in some strife this season, 20th in the table and involved in a battle to stay in the division, rather than at the top end which many had predicted, the new boss is confident that like at his previous two clubs, he can be a success, adding: “There’s been a lot of external factors that have contributed to some of that (poor results), but what’s been and gone is gone.
"Do we believe in the future? Absolutely yes. Do we believe that we can make a success of our time here? Absolutely, and we really believe in the group we’ve got and were really excited about what is to come. When I took the job at Colchester I really wanted to get away from Wycombe and stand on my own two feet, take a risk in my life, to risk failing, as that’s what I was doing there.
"I didn’t want to get the job by default at Wycombe and from there it’s been a rollercoaster of a journey. We managed to turn things around at Colchester and I’m really proud of the job that we did there. We went back to Wycombe and really tried to be us, implement our style on the group and its presented some really exciting opportunities. To go to Wycombe and now to come to Luton, I have to say how pleased I am to be here.”